Hidden Potential
by obelisk0007
Summary: Jiro was a newbie Flame Haze. He dislikes humans because they are ignorant of what is really happening around them. Yuna was a lonely human girl. She feels that she doesn't fit in at her school. What would happen if their two worlds would collide?


**Chapter 1**

Jiro woke up with a start. The sun's rays shone upon his puzzled face as he took in his surroundings. He was sleeping beside a river bank, near a few houses whose sleepy inhabitants were completely unaware of the truth of their world.

"_It's better for them not to know," _Jiro thought as he brushed off dirt from his clothes. "_They probably won't be able to handle it," _he added.

He looked beyond the houses, staring at the sun while it's still dim enough to stare at. "It's going to be another long day..." he said as he took off.

Meanwhile, Yuna was sitting on her bed. It seems sleep was avoiding her last night. She barely got some sleep last night; the eye bags on her face were proof to that.

"_Something's going on." I can feel it_, she thought to herself. Something big is about to happen, she can feel it in her guts. But what, she doesn't know.

She got downstairs, and found no one. Big surprise. Her family barely has time for her. All they care about is their business. They would send checks once a week containing a million yen or so, but never goes home. A maid would come during the day to clean the house while she's at school, but would immediately leave when she's done cleaning. She also had no friends at school. Sometimes, she wonders if anyone would miss her when she die, but immediately dismisses the thought. She would think about that when she actually dies. Besides, she doesn't care if anyone will miss her or not.

"Goodbye, house. See you when I get home," she said as she's about to leave. Can she really call it home? Hers is barely deserving of the title. "I mean, see you when I get back..." she added in an afterthought.

Before going to school, she would buy a bento at a nearby store, since there's no one to prepare food for her back at her...house. She would also buy bread there that would serve as her breakfast.

"Sometimes I wonder why I settle for food like this when my parents send me so much money," she thought as she stood in line at the counter. She thought about it a little bit, but decided that she doesn't really care.

When she left the store...

"Ouch!" exclaimed someone.

Someone ran into her. She looked at the one who ran her over, and she saw a boy about her age. He was wearing a black jacket with its hood hanging loosely in his back, red pants and black and red headphones.

"Sorry..." he muttered at her as he got up. When he got up, he didn't even bother assisting her and immediately ran.

"What a gentleman…chivalry is so dead." she muttered to herself as she stood up, picking up her bento while making sure it's not ruined.

When she picked up her bento, she noticed that the boy dropped something. It's…a ring. A stone is set at the ring, an insignia glowing eerily at its core. She found the insignia to be charming so she kept it. "I doubt that I'm gonna catch up to that boy soon. I'll just return it if he looks for it." She thought.

She fitted the ring on her middle finger. A perfect fit. She raised her hand high, the light reflecting from the stone, making it sparkle. "Definitely keeping it." She said.

She was about to walk towards the direction of her school when she felt something…a tug…a pull…mentally, but not physically. She felt a pull towards the direction where the boy ran a while ago. What was this strange feeling? She's definitely feeling a strange aura from that direction, but she doesn't know what it is…

Meanwhile, Jiro was running towards downtown. He checked his pockets. "Damn…" he muttered.

"What is it?" asked a voice inside his head.

"I lost a treasure tool…" he responded to the voice.

"Which tool?" inquired the voice.

"It's the ring. I lost the gospel ring. I think I dropped it when I ran into the girl a while ago…" he responded.

"It's a loss…but a minimal one. Quite useless for a flame haze, actually, but still a loss nevertheless. Be careful next might lose something important." said the voice.

He hated it when he treated him like a child. "I know! I know! Stop lecturing me! I'm not a kid anymore!" he shouted. People within hearing range looked at him. He stopped.

"Damn it, they must be thinking I'm crazy…" he thought as he ran again.

Yuna was still standing there, facing a dilemma. She had two options: Ignore the feeling and go to school, or Follow her instincts and head downtown. Even though facing the problem of loneliness, she was still an A plus student. She never missed a day of school. She looked down at the ring in her finger.

"There's always time for a first. I'm gonna follow what you're trying to tell me. Better make sure it's worthwhile," She told the ring as if the ring understood her.

Almost as if on cue, the ring glowed an ominous light.

"W-What's happening?" she said, shaking where she stood.

Almost as if someone told her to, she looked towards the direction of downtown. Now a dark crimson sphere has appeared, as high as the downtown skyscrapers. "What is that?" she asked herself. Without knowing why, she found herself running towards the direction of the dark crimson aura, also known as a fuzetsu.

Downtown Sakura City. A battle is ensuing between Flame Haze and Rinne as they clash in a battle of flame and claws.

"Come on, Bel! I need more power!" shouted Jiro, as he was reloading his dual pistols in mid-air.

His hands bearing the alchemical symbol for fire, flames turning into flame bullets for his pistols. He's been fighting this rinne for about five minutes already. Most Rinne would already be down at this point, but not this one. Apparently, the hard shell of the Rinne makes his flame bullets almost useless against it.

"No matter how much flame I give you, it still wouldn't do enough damage to kill it. Form a new plan, or face defeat. Make your choice now." said the voice.

Apparently, the voice is disappointed it's flame haze is still trying to pursue a futile attempt at damaging the Rinne.

"Grrr…give me 30 seconds…" said Jiro, sighing in defeat. He has to accept the truth. He can't defeat his enemy with his basic attack of using his dual pistols.

"Apparently, 30 seconds is all I can give you. Anymore past that, That Rinne would have absorbed all power of existence from this area already," the voice told him.

Jiro looked around, trying to remember the scene from before the battle. The square where the battle is being held was full of laughing children. Now, the square is as dead silent as a graveyard.

"All those children…no….no!" he exclaimed. Jiro normally disliked human beings, even though he was one in the past. He hated their ignorance about the truth that is around them. But, killing children, to him, is unforgivable.

"You're gonna pay for this, stupid monster." He slid his pistols back to his belt. He crossed both of his hands in front of him, his palms facing outwards. He closed his eyes, his brows furrowing in concentration. "Fuzetsu," he murmured. There was another explosion of crimson aura erupting from the rinne. He was summoning a fuzetsu within a fuzetsu. As the rinne was slowly freezing in its tracks, a glyph appeared at Jiro's feet.

"Belias, Crimson Lord, grant unto me a portion of your power! Answer my plea for your assistance!" he said, turning the azure glyph at his feet into crimson. "Ignis Corpus!"

Yuna ran like she never had. She ran as if her life depended on it. Her lungs felt like giving in to the fatigue she was feeling, but her whole body protests at the idea. "I need to get to that crimson thingy…" she said. The mental tug that she felt a while ago was still there, and it grows in power as she gets close to the fuzetsu.

As she entered within the fuzetsu, she noticed that time seems to be at a stop within it. "What the…what is wrong around here?" she said, astounded at what she is seeing. The people were statues within the fuzetsu, motionless figures displaying various emotions. An explosion shook the block where she was, shaking her out of her trance.

"Answer my plea for your assistance…Ignis Corpus!" a voice was shouting. She arrived just in time to see the flames erupt from the strange glyph, consuming the flame haze. "Hey! That's the boy from earlier!" she thought, the scene from outside the store playing in her mind. "What's he doing here?"

She saw the flame hug the figure of the boy as the intense heat radiated from its body. The flame and the boy was slowly becoming one. She saw the flaming boy at the same time she saw the gigantic crab-like Rinne. "What…is…that…thing?" she thought. "All of these…it can't be real! This must be a dream…yeah! It's just a dream!" she said, trying to pinch herself to wake up. She was feeling the pain, but her dream wasn't close to fading. "Is this…for real?"

"You don't like bullets? Try my fists. You might like them." said Jiro. The flame was done transforming around his body. He is now protected by a thick armour of swirling flames. The flames might be thick, but Jiro feels as light as a feather.

"Haaaaaaaa!" Jiro shouted as he charged his enemy. Flames poured from beneath his feet, propelling him forward like a jet plane. The moment he moved from his spot, the fuzetsu trapping the Rinne broke, allowing it to counterattack. It raised its right claw and slammed it into the ground, trying to smash Jiro into bits. Jiro skilfully dodged the attack by shooting a jet of flames through his left hand, propelling him towards the left side of the monster.

The Rinne might be big, but it was still agile. It swung its left claw-arm at its side, trying to hit Jiro. He knew trying to dodge the attack is futile because the attack was so fast, so he took the attack. He caught the claw and pushed it aside, creating an opening and a clear shot towards the head of the crab-like rinne.

"I am the flame haze of the Purifying White Flame, Belias! Feel my power!" Jiro shouted as his flames turned white in intensity. Flames engulfed the whole area, and Yuna, who was watching the entire battle from behind a post, saw nothing but white.

**Hope you like my story! Please give me some reviews on how to improve it! I'm sorry if you saw any grammatical mistakes. English is not my native language so; please bear with me a little! =)**


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